Archive for June, 2017

As sad as it was, several months back, we made the decision to end AniBlaze as a Convention, when we failed yet again to deliver a 3 day convention. We did have a 1 day convention, and it was a lot of fun, but we determined that our current model wouldn’t work, and the PR damage done due to the first failed event was just not recoverable. AniBlaze was my dream, it wasn’t called AniBlaze, but I had been toying with the idea of a convention since 2011. In 2013, it seemed more like a possibility. By 2014, it was clear, that I wasn’t going to stop until I tried. In 2015, I signed the hotel contract that officially started AniBlaze, and assembled some of the most dedicated people out there. We didn’t always agree or get along, but we loved what we were doing. 2016 came around, with the original hotel incident. Everytime I say too much about that, I get threats from their lawyers still. We tried to make a quick turn around, and make a comeback in May, but due to the availability of our guests, the financial status of things, and the close proximity to Momocon, we quickly dropped that idea, and rescheduled for 2017. Later, I came up with the idea of doing a 1 day event in 2016, as a thank you to those who had stuck with us, and so we could have a fun smaller event in 2016. We also used this as a test run of our ideas, and teamwork. The entire event, went off without a hitch, despite low turnout. By December, the team voiced a lack of confidence in our ability to pull off the event, due to financials, lack of pre-registration, and general skepticism due to the past, so we eventually combined our efforts with AGAMACON, and ended AniBlaze as a convention permanently.
The AniBlaze name existed long before the convention, at one point serving as an Anime review site, and at one point, a fansub group, back when crunchyroll’s library was lacking, and funimation was anti-streaming. AniBlaze LLC is essentially bankrupt, and has been administratively dissolved by the state of Georgia. What’s next for the AniBlaze name? I don’t know! AniBlaze Events was an idea to provide services to other events, such as funding, equipment rentals, and even booking local talent, and non VA Guests, like professional panelists, bands, DJs, etc. We were also willing to just in general promote events, whether we were involved or not. Unfortunately, the interest in that seems low, so it’s not really moving along.
So the future for AniBlaze is unclear, but I’m always open to ideas. Anyone want to go on an adventure?
For now, you can follow AniBlaze Events on Facebook if you like, or even me if you like.
Thanks for all the great memories!